Definition of a Novice

To be considered a novice, a student must meet one of the following conditions:

1. The student, whether a middle schooler or high schooler, is participating in their first contest year of high school competition.

2. Prior to the current contest year, the student had not yet received the Degree of Merit.

3. A student who earned the degree of merit by participating in middle school ONLY activities could still be considered a novice because they have never done high school competition.

4. A student who attended tournaments in a prior contest year but did not achieve 25 points could still be considered a novice because they had not yet earned NSDA membership.

Novice LD Exception: In SC, we allow students to participate in Novice Lincoln Douglas Debate if they did not compete in any NSDA high school debate events in a previous contest year.